


definitely not. surely. maybe?

by Anonymous



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: 5+1 Things, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Married Life, Misunderstandings, Multi, Not Cheating, POV Outsider, POV Patty Blum, Polyamorous Losers Club (IT), Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25441150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: 5 times Patty thinks that Richie is cheating on Stan+ 1 time she meets the Losers Club
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon/Ben Hanscom/Eddie Kaspbrak/Beverly Marsh/Richie Tozier/Stanley Uris, Patricia Blum Uris & Stanley Uris
Comments: 5
Kudos: 128
Collections: Anonymous





	definitely not. surely. maybe?




Stan and Richie are the cutest couple Patty has ever met. They’re sickly sweet, the kind of adorable in your face cute, that just being around them is like a painful reminder of how single you are. Richie brings out something extraordinary in Stan, sharp witted and affectionate. He isn’t the most outward guy at the best of times, though he can be deadly funny and say the most surprising muttered comments if close enough to hear them; he’s typically reserved and quiet about his social life. Except when around Richie, then he’s different. 

Every day Richie drops Stan off at work with a goodbye kiss to the corner of his lips and a dopey smile. Similarly, Stan leaves every day with a happy smile and a wave to Patty’s desk, looking like he can’t wait to get out of his work clothes and see his husband again. To her knowledge he gets picked up by one of his friends at the end of the work day, getting dropped home presumably on his friend’s way home. 

He and Richie are the kind of desperate in love that they seem to revolve around each other. Bringing out different sides to each other than Patty would never expect. Stan, when prompted, has thousands of stories to tell about his husband, some so outlandish and out of character that she can hardly believe Richie was the one to do them. Nonetheless, he’s always eager to tell a fond tale or an anecdote about their relationship, and Richie does the same at any given opportunity. Wrapped up in each other like nothing Patty has ever seen. Living in the honeymoon stage for the last three decades or so. 

Which is why it doesn’t make any sense that Richie would cheat. He looks at Stan like he hung the moon and stars, like every good thing in the world is because of that man, so Patty can’t comprehend seeing him out with another guy. Giving him the same look.

She’s gone out to get coffee, it’s her day off so she wasn't out of bed this morning until ten o’clock. Meaning, by midday she’s craving the buzz of caffeine in her veins, and the coffee shop down the street has a mug of coffee and a donut with her name on it. It’s in the coffee shop that she sees Richie. 

He’s seated across from a dark skinned man who’s smiling at him warmly, their hands clasped over the table, fingers tangled together. Their conversation is indecipherable from this side of the coffee shop, but it’s evident that Richie is making the unknown man laugh. That isn’t all too much of a surprise, Richie is one of the funniest people that Patty has ever met; his humour is crude and at the best of times downright ridiculous, but he’s a master at learning the little tips and tricks that make each person laugh and targeting that. She had thought Stan didn’t know how to laugh before she saw Richie interact with him, that was the day she learnt Stanley Uris could laugh so loudly it turns heads, you just had to nitpick his odd sense of humour. 

She wouldn’t think anything of the two men, friends go out for coffee every day. If not for the intimacy to their positioning. They were talking softly, heads inclined towards each other and smiles warm and fond. Richie was absentmindedly toying with the other man’s fingers, and they seemed so wrapped up in each other they didn’t even see the rest of the coffee shop. Patty stifles a gasp into her fist as Richie brings their hands up and presses a kiss to the knuckle of the man’s hand, clasped in his own. The scene is so intimate she has to look away. 

With a warm coffee in her hand and a harsh shake of her head, she rids herself of the idea. She shouldn’t assume things about Richie, from everything she knows about him he is a lovely man, who is hopelessly in love with his husband. There is no reason at all that she should assume he is cheating. 




The second time it happens she can still assume the best. 

She runs into Richie, quite literally, on her morning jog just the Saturday after their coffee shop encounter - not that it can be called such, when Richie didn’t even know she was there. He’s walking down the street with a short man, snorting into a takeaway coffee cup and speaking animatedly. The man is barely kempt, looking like Richie might have pulled him out of work only moments before. His auburn hair is messy and dark bags sit heavily under his eyes, but he’s smiling at Richie fondly and knowingly, like this is something they do often and that he enjoys. 

Richie spots her when they are no more than a street away from each other and waves her over eagerly. 

“Pattycakes!” He shouts, throwing himself around her in a tight hug. She laughs into his shoulder, the ridiculous nickname sitting warm and happily in her chest.   
“Hi Richie, how are you?” She replies, settling onto her feet again when he lets her go.   
Richie is grinning, always so full of energy and excitement, like an overgrown puppy that got turned into a man. “I’m good! Getting Billiam here away from his book for a while,” he says playfully, nudging the man in the shoulder. 

Bill gives a good natured laugh, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Hi, I’m Bill,” he introduces himself properly. “I’m-”   
“The love of my life!” Richie swoons exaggeratedly into Bill’s shoulder, laughing proudly when he scoffs and shrugs him off. 

Something hard sits in Patty’s stomach as they chat good naturedly, she shouldn’t assume things, she really shouldn’t. However, it’s difficult not to, when Richie’s hand is settled on Bill’s lower back protectively. When he called him  _ “the love of his life”.  _ She feels a little ill at the idea that Richie could feel so comfortable in his affair that he would announce it so comfortably to her, a known friend of Stan, what with him being their mutual connection. Surely not. Surely, that was just Richie being… Richie. He has always been overdramatic, responding too excitedly to things that didn’t warrant the response. He had once announced to the entire office that he was going to marry Patty because she brought him a donut to take with him after dropping Stan off. 

“I’m reading too much into things,” she assures herself as she walks away.   
Richie shouting a gleeful, “see you tomorrow!” to her retreating back. 

“I need to stop assuming the worst in people.” 

  
  





By the third time it is getting more difficult to explain away. 

It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, is what she is trying to convince herself after seeing Richie kiss the temple of another unfamiliar man. He is broad and muscular, with deep blue eyes set into his warm smiling face. His shoulders are loose, one arm slung behind Richie who is reading something off his phone out loud. Patty knows that Richie is a stand up comedian, and judging by the laughter shaking the man’s shoulders she considers that he could be reading new jokes. 

What startles her is the adoration in the man’s gaze. It so deeply reminds her of Stan, and how he looks at Richie, that it rolls her stomach. 

She walks closer; all the while convincing herself that she just wants to take the longer walk through the park on her way back to the office, to stretch her time outdoors as long as her lunch break will allow. Deep down she knows that’s not the case, especially as she falters once close enough to hear their conversation. Stopping behind a tree and pretending to tie her dress shoes tighter. 

“So what do you think, Handsome?” Richie is asking, she peeks around the tree a little bit to see him fluttering his eyelashes.  _ Handsome _ , not your typical friendly nickname, but it  _ is _ Richie she reminds herself. Always overly affectionate and with a nickname for everyone.   
The man smiles genuinely. “It was really good, Rich, I’m surprised and impressed.”   
“Surprised I was actually funny? Seems like a backhanded compliment to me…” Richie teases.   
The man laughs again, tilting his head towards Richie. “You know that’s not what I mean, but this is really new stuff, I’m surprised you’ve done so well off the bat.” 

Richie blushes, the colour staining his cheeks almost imperceptibly from where Patty is ‘not-spying’.   
“Thanks man,” he coughs, awkward in the face of a genuine compliment. Patty has seen him like this many times before in the presence of Stan, always able to dish out compliment after compliment but going awkward and flustered when the tables are turned. “Do I get a kiss for my incredible talent?” He immediately spins the conversation jokingly. 

Patty swallows roughly, walking away before she can hear the man’s response. She’s sure it was just a joke, after all, Richie is dramatic and affectionate with his friends. It was definitely a joke. 

She reassures herself of that idea all the way back to the office and to her desk. However, no matter how much she repeats that it was likely a joke, surely platonic, she still feels a hot and consuming guilt clawing at her stomach as Stan mouths hello at her as she walks in. The phone tucked onto his shoulder under his chin and smiling widely at her. She considers telling him, surely he would know if it was platonic or not, but shuts down the idea as quickly as it comes. There’s no reason to worry him over nothing, it would only be cruel and likely make him paranoid. 

No, she’ll keep it to herself. 

**4.**

The fourth time brings a more serious worry. 

It happens at work, Patty is returning to her desk from a short toilet break when she glances over at Stan’s cubicle and sees Richie and a red haired woman chatting with him. The woman is clearly a friend of theirs, all three of them comfortable and relaxed. Richie and the woman are leaned against Stan’s desk as he taps at his keyboard, muttering something to them which they nod easily in agreement to. 

Patty returns to her work with a sigh, stifling the urge to let out a fully fledged groan at the sight of the account that greets her. She takes a moment with fingers pressed to her temples to ask herself, not for the first time, and certainly not for the last  _ for what god forbidden reason did she decide to take up accounting? _   
She taps away at her keyboard for about ten minutes, engrossed in the monotony of the numbers, when Stan’s voice piques her attention. He’s louder, which means he’s probably moved to the door of his cubicle, and when she glances up that fact is confirmed. 

“I’ll see you at home?” he questions with a fond smile, the one that only appears when Richie is around. Patty smiles to herself at the sight of it. Her angle must be odd, because it looks like he’s looking at both of them when he says it.   
Of course, Richie is the one who replies, the question being directed at him. “But of course Staniel!” He leans forward and presses a lingering kiss to Stan’s lips, both slow to pull away with fluttering smiles. “See you then,” he says goodbye. 

The red haired lady departs with him, patting Stan’s cheek fondly before she goes. Stan re-enters his cubicle without a second glance, Patty notes that his cheeks are still reddened by Richie’s kiss. 

Richie and the lady leave quietly, their shoulders brushing. Richie wiggling his fingers in a pseudo-wave goodbye as he passes Patty’s cubicle; she copies the movement with a smile. The woman offers a friendly smile. Patty’s eyes follow them as they walk out, she tells herself she just doesn’t want to return to her work. Richie and his friend, a far more interesting topic than the stream of numbers on her screen; but logically she knows there has been a deep rooted sense of distrust in her gut since she first saw Richie with that man in the coffee shop. 

Patty’s cubicle gives her a perfect view of the exit to the office, which means she doesn’t miss the tender kiss the woman leaves on Richie’s lips as they part ways outside the office building. Them laughing and saying something before the woman stands on her tiptoes and pulls Richie in by the collar of his shirt. 

Of course, they could just be close friends, some friends kiss on the lips. She tries to talk herself down from panic, there’s no reason to jump to conclusions, she assures herself. It’s probably a huge misunderstanding. For all she knows Richie and the lady could be best friends, and their way of expressing affection was planting one on each others’ mouths. 

Except, even as she tries to reconcile the idea with herself, she has to admit. The kiss was so familiar to the ones she has seen Richie and Stan share over the time she has known them. From the way Richie held the woman’s chin between his thumb and forefinger to his dopey smile as they pulled away. There was an affection there that was far deeper than platonic. 

**5.**

By the fifth time there are no excuses. Nothing she can say would twist what she sees any other way. 

She bumps into Richie on another day off, heading to the museum to go out with a friend when she sees him. He’s lip locked with another man, the kisses hard and desperate against a dark windowed car. Patty is completely frozen in her stride, watching as the man’s hands reach up and tug at the hairs at the nape of Richie’s neck, a wedding band as striking as Richie’s own, a glinting presence in the warm sunlight. She feels sick at the sight of it, both of them have someone to return to. 

He’s significantly shorter than Richie, enough that Richie’s stooped down to make the kiss easier. It’s barely open mouth, but romantic and deep nonetheless. Parted lips pressed firmly together and breathing each other in. Watching them, Patty feels like she’s intruding on a private moment, but simultaneously she can’t look away; how can she? Knowing that Richie has a husband who loves him deeply, currently at work in a boring accounting job, not knowing about the rounds Richie is seemingly making with these people. One of which, she remembers with horror, thinking of the red haired girl patting Stan’s cheek, is one of Stan’s friends. 

She launches herself back into movement, remembering herself, as they break apart. She only sees a moment where they smile at each other, foreheads pressed together and chests heaving in tandem. That kiss was no first time offence, they know each other well, intimately. The dark, lustful look in their eyes was evidence enough that they know each other further than a deep kiss on the street. 

The next day she walks herself immediately to Stan’s desk. She arrived later than him purposefully, even though she’s usually the early bird out of the two, the idea of seeing him and Richie together too much to bear. Her skin prickles and sweat beads at the back of her neck from nerves, she wishes, selfishly, that Stan would find out of his own accord. So she could look after him and pick up the broken pieces but wouldn’t have to be the one to break the news. 

Unfortunately ( _ fortunately _ , she chastises herself) he seems entirely normal sitting in his cubicle. He’s chewing on a mint absentmindedly as he clicks through spreadsheets, typing madly before returning to a calm meditative click. click. click. 

“Stan,” Patty says, rapping on the cubicle wall awkwardly to announce her presence.   
Stan looks up briefly with a short smile, before returning to his computer. “Oh, hi Patty! How are you?” He asks politely. Stan typically doesn’t like being interrupted during his work but Patty doesn’t think she’ll be able to sit across from him with this knowledge weighing heavily in her stomach.   
“Actually, I have something I’d like to talk to you about,” she says, discomfort evident in her voice. 

  
Stan frowns, his eyes flicking up to meet hers again before clicking a few times and closing his window. “Are you okay?” He asks, concerned, giving her his full attention.   
“Richie is cheating,” she admits in a rush. Horrified at herself for her bluntness, especially as Stan stares back at her blankly.   
“Pardon, sorry?” He says, clearly confused. “I don’t understand.” 

Patty exhales slowly, scratching at her palm as she tries to find the right words. How much she could tell Stan without hurting him too deeply.   
“I’m sorry. Richie is cheating, I’ve seen him multiple times, there's definitely at least three people, but I’ve seen him with five.” 

She waits for Stan’s response. She’s not sure exactly what she is expecting, Stan is a hard book to read for emotions and he tends to react in unexpected ways. She has prepared herself for tears, no reaction at all, anger and even him running out on her. What she didn’t prepare for was Stan to laugh.   
It isn’t just a chuckle either, it’s a full bodied, deep bellied laugh that before, she has only seen Richie pull out of him. He wheezes, clutching his stomach and trying to catch his breath, wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with trailing giggles. 

“Thank you Patty,” he says earnestly, still smiling wide. “I really needed that. This case has been a doozy,” he gestures to the laptop screen with a dismissive motion.   
Patty blinks at him, incredibly confused. She watches as Stan’s smile dims and then confusion replaces it. “Wait are you not joking?” Stan asks. 

She shakes her head slowly, thinking she finally has a grip on his reaction, laughing at the very idea Richie would ever cheat on him, until he speaks again. 

“Patty… who do you think I’m married to?” He asks. The odd question is supported by Stan steepling his fingers and peering at her contemplatively, waiting for her response.   
“I…” she hesitates, confused. “Richie? Obviously.”  
Stan nods slowly. “And?” He prompts.   
She pauses, now more confused than ever. “ _ And _ ?” she asks. 

Stan’s mouth slowly drops open, lips parting in surprise, twitching into a smile once again. “How long would you say we’ve been friends for, Patty?” Stan asks, bemusedly.   
Patty shrugs, the twists and turns of this conversation leaving her incredibly lost. “About eighteen months or so?” She replies. 

Stan makes an agreeing motion. “So, you’re telling me you never once noticed that I’m in a polyamorous relationship?” He asks rhetorically.   
Patty can practically hear her brain make a record scratch, all her thoughts stunned to a halt. “Wait what?” She manages. 

“I’m married to six people, not legally of course but still, six partners.” Stan is fully smiling now, he fiddles with his wedding ring fondly. “ _ Not _ just Richie,” he says pointedly when Patty doesn’t say anything, stunned into silence. 

“So Richie…” she trails off, horrified with herself as the realisation strikes her. How fond the strangers had seemed with Richie, how intimate, how loving.   
“Is definitely not cheating on me,” Stan finishes for her, clearly trying to keep his amusement out of his voice, to no success.   
Patty puts her head in her hands, mortified, her cheeks burning red. “Oh god,” she mumbles, embarrassment only flaring as Stan chuckles fondly and lays a comforting hand on her arm.   
“It’s okay!” He assures her. Unable to hold himself back from laughing as Patty makes another pained noise. 

“Are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Stan asks as she continues to sink into her embarrassment. The question startles her, but not enough to make her look up. She shakes her head a ‘no’ in response, leaving her head in her hands. “How about you come over and meet my partners?” Stan suggests kindly. He smiles at Patty as she emerges slowly from her pit of embarrassment. 

She agrees, guilt at her assumptions still eating at her but intrigued now about the other people that are a part of Stan’s life. 

“Excellent,” Stan says with an amused chuckle, turning back to his computer. “They’ll love you.” 

**+1**

She’s regretting her choice a little as she approaches the door to Stan’s house. It’s a large and beautiful brickwork building, with four tightly packed cars in the driveway and a paint-splattered mailbox. Nerves and anticipation are swirling together in her stomach, creating an odd concoction. She hesitates with her hand poised to knock, briefly entertaining the idea of running before this dinner ever happens. 

Instead, she brings her fist to the door with three loud knocks. 

The door swings open with impressive speed, Richie’s familiar smile greeting her on the other side.   
“Hiya Pattycakes,” he says amiably, leaning against the doorframe comfortably and beckoning her inside. She tries to force a genuine smile through her panic but must come up short, as Richie has to bite at his fist to keep from laughing. “I swear everyone’s really nice.” He promises, taking her arm and pulling her inside. 

The house opens up to an open plan lounge area, Patty is taken aback by the warmth of it, how safe and comfortable the place feels even with her arms prickling with nerves.   
“Patty!” Stan greets, he’s seated on the couch with the red haired woman from work tucked into his side. Patty pauses a moment to appreciate how softened this Stan is, gone are the walls put up at work by a clean suit and an impassive face. In his house he is cozy, tucked in a sweater and smiling genuinely and easily. 

The woman beside him stands to her feet and forgoes shaking hands, pulling Patty into a gentle hug. “I’m Bev,” she introduces herself.   
“I’m Patty,” she says in return, even though it’s unnecessary. She shifts on her feet awkwardly as she glances around the room, guilt rolling her stomach as Richie stands comfortably beside her. Rocking backwards and forwards on his heels like nothing is wrong in the world. 

“Come sit,” Bev beckons Patty over, patting the space on the couch beside her. Patty is just taking the offered seat when another man enters the room, Bill, she remembers from her brief introduction to him.   
He smiles warmly at her, reaching out a hand for her to shake. “Hi Patty, I fear I may not have introduced myself w-well the last time we met. I’m Richie and Stan’s husband,” he teases, a smile quirking at his lips. 

Richie snorts from over by the wall as Patty’s cheeks burn. She’s saved from having to respond by Bev’s faux scandalised gasp.   
“Is this your way of breaking up with the rest of us?” She asks, tipping her chin up to receive a short peck on the lips from over Stan’s head.   
Bill snorts. “Absolutely, I’m sorry you had to find out like this,” he jokes and takes a seat on the couch to the side of Stan, Bev and Patty. 

“Nice!” Richie laughs, fist pumping the air. “In the divorce I call dibs on Stan, Bill and Eddie.” Bev lets out a peal of laughter that rings like bells. Patty feels the discomfort in her shoulders release as they tease each other openly, including Patty in the conversation and never once seeming uncomfortable with her assumptions about them. They explain to her that they call themselves the Losers Club, a nickname from their childhood they made for themselves. 

After a few minutes of comfortable chatter the front door opens with the jangle of keys in a lock.

“Honey! I’m home!” Richie shouts on behalf of the man entering. Patty recognises him immediately as the man she saw kissing Richie deeply only days before. Her cheeks colour at the memory, and the conclusion she jumped to on account of it.   
The man scoffs, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and hanging it on a peg beside the door. “Shouldn’t that be my line?” He asks, smoothing Richie’s shirt across his shoulders as he approaches to offer a chaste kiss to his lips. 

Richie shrugs loosely. “You never say it, I’m just helping you out.”   
“Being a nuisance more like,” the other man fires back. Pulling Richie in for one more bruising kiss before backing off and seeking out the rest of the group.   
His eyes fall on Patty as Richie is saying something along the lines of “you call it nuisance, I call it love.” He smiles at her, reaching out a hand to introduce himself. 

“I’m Eddie,” he says cordially. Patty introduces herself in return, then sits patiently as he greets his partners with a gentle kiss and a smile. She is warmed to see that Stan lights up just the same under his touch as he does to Richie. 

Two more introductions occur slowly, as Mike and Ben emerge from the kitchen where they had been preparing dinner with firm handshakes and kind smiles. Joining the loud clamber of conversation easily, slipping into places on the large couches as though they were built to be there. Patty sits mostly in silence, listening to the familiarity and comfort in the way they all talk to each other. Each pair’s interactions are different but all linked by the clear love and affection behind the words. She especially watches Richie, how he reaches out to nudge and tousle with his partners, easily drawing laughter and exasperated eye rolls from each of them. 

“You okay?” Bev asks, noticing how Patty has begun to sink into her guilt. “I understand it can be a little overwhelming.”   
Patty shakes her head. “No, it’s lovely,” she promises her. Bev furrows her eyebrows in disbelief as Patty tucks her arms tight around herself, guilt clawing at her.   
“What’s up Pattycakes?” Richie asks, always far more observant than Patty expects, or gives him credit for. 

The rest glance over worriedly, clearly assuming that they have been too much for her. Quick to reassure them that no such thing is the case she lets the apology spill out of her. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, looking directly at Richie.   
He hesitates, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “For what?” He asks genuinely.   
“For assuming you would ever… for thinking you would…” she struggles with her words, all eyes on her. 

“Cheat?” Ben supplies, voice lacking any judgement at all. Patty nods slowly. 

Eddie lets out a loud snort of laughter. “Don’t be ridiculous, this is the best story Stan’s ever told us.” He assures her.   
“Yeah Pats,” Richie shrugs, an easy smile on his face and his arms stretched loosely behind Ben and Bill. “No hard feelings, I’m honestly more impressed that you never noticed.” His voice is teasing, a lilting laughter to his words. 

Bev offers her a friendly smile. “Honestly, I want to know what built up to you making the conclusion.” She says. “What were the hints that Richie was having an  _ affair _ ?”   
The group laughs as Richie makes a choked gasping noise and pretends to faint at the suggestion. 

Patty groans but complies as they look at her eagerly. “I saw Mike and Richie at a coffee shop first,” she explains. “Then Bill and then Ben,” she lists the two easily, remembering how she had convinced herself they were just friends. “Those ones were all fairly light interactions, so it was easy to convince myself it was just platonic. From everything I’d seen of Stan and Richie it didn’t make sense he would cheat.” 

The Losers Club nod at this assessment, Mike piping up, “Richie’s definitely one of the more publicly affectionate of us.” Richie shrugs, leaning over to smack a loud kiss to Mike’s cheek to broadcast his acceptance of the role. 

“It was when Bev and Richie kissed goodbye that I started to truly suspect… there was more than platonic feelings there,” she shuffles awkwardly until Bev laughs in understanding.   
She trails off, not really wanting to continue until Bill prompts. 

“So what was the tipping point?” He asks, not unkindly, but Patty still flushes at the question anyway. Ducking her head to avoid making eye contact with any of them. 

“I saw Eddie and Richie together,” she mumbles, repeating the sentence louder when none of them hear her. The Losers make a long noise of understanding, clearly already knowing where she was going with the interaction. “There was no way to convince myself that the kiss was platonic,” she shrugs. “I felt like I had to tell Stan.” She looks up to meet their amused faces, pointedly avoiding meeting Richie or Eddie’s eyes. 

Stan smiles gratefully at her. “I’m glad you thought to tell me, even if you were just telling me that my husband was dating our other partners.” She flushes at the reminder but the tension in her stomach loosens as she laughs with the rest of them. 

“Richie and Eddie have no chill switch,” Bev teases, reaching out with her foot to jab Eddie fondly. “They’re either screaming at each other or tongue deep down the other’s throat. Even in public.”   
“Especially in public,” Mike amends, laughing as Eddie tries to swat at his head and misses.   
Richie just laughs happily, reaching a hand for Eddie to high five. “Yeah we are!” He grins as Eddie reluctantly taps his hand against his. 

“I really am sorry,” she tries one more time. 

Richie waves her off flippantly. “Seriously, don’t worry about it. It’s hilarious. We’ve been in an exclusive relationship since we were eighteen, some of us earlier than that, before we all came together. There’s nothing offensive about you thinking I looked too in love with my partners.” He assures her.   
Patty nods, smiling as she finally relaxes. 

She assures herself from this point she will never make assumptions about people again, at least not without the full story. 


End file.
